Author, Blogger, Pastor's Wife

Marathon Training Schedule

Today, we began a new marathon training schedule. We’ll be running the Rock n Roll Marathon in San Antonio on November 11th, which is now less than seven months away. Why a seven month training schedule? Well, this is a SLOOOOOWWWW progression, based on marathon expert Hal Higdon’s advice. I’ve had some people ask for the schedule, so I’ve included it below. As you’ll see, it takes seven months to build up to 26.2 because we’re starting with low mileage here at the beginning. This is the same program we used last year (with different dates, obviously), and we’ve found that it works, especially for those of us who are still relatively new to running.

So, if you’re sitting there thinking that there’s no way you can run a marathon… well, think again! Because this? Is so totally doable, even if you can only run 1.5 miles right this minute.

We’re running four days a week with cross-training on Sundays. My preference with cross training is to ride a stationary bike for one hour at a speed between 16-20 mph, but I think any hour of any exercise other than running (as long as it gets your heart rate up) is fine. During the Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday runs, we run at a fast pace, but for our Saturday, high mileage runs, we take it at a much easier pace. (This is per Hal Higdon’s own advice.) We run the entire distances without walking, which is easier than you would think with the slow build up in mileage. We eat carb-intensive meals for lunch the day before a long run, drink Powerade for recovery on runs longer than an hour, and use gels on 10+ mile runs. (I prefer the chocolate Clif shots, which I’ve already mentioned. In fact, I think I dedicated a blog to them, didn’t I? I really love those things!) And whenever we can find a half marathon to run on a weekend with 13 or 13+ miles scheduled? We sign up to run it, running our additional miles before the race. Somehow, an actual race is psychologically easier on us… and we like the bling. Who doesn’t?

All that said, y’all, if we can do this, anyone can do it. I hope by posting all of this, you can see that it really is possible, no matter where you’re starting.